Erasmus Darwin Leavitt, Jr.

Who was Erasmus Darwin Leavitt, Jr.?

Erasmus Darwin Leavitt, Jr., also known as E. D. Leavitt, was a noted American mechanical engineer best known for his steam engine designs.

Leavitt was born in Lowell, Massachusetts to Erasmus Darwin, Sr., a native of Cornish, New Hampshire, and Almina Leavitt, graduated from local schools at age 16, and performed a 3-year apprenticeship at the Lowell Manufacturing Company. He then worked for one year at the engineering firm of Corliss & Nightingale in Providence, Rhode Island before returning to Boston, where he became assistant foreman for Harrison Loring. In this role he designed the steam engine for the USS Hartford. From 1859–61 he again worked in Providence, this time as chief draftsman for Thurston, Gardner & Company, builders of steam engines.

During the Civil War, Leavitt first served aboard the USS Sagamore, then in construction roles in Baltimore, Boston, and Brooklyn, and ultimately as an instructor in steam engineering at the United States Naval Academy. In 1867 he resigned his teaching post to become a consulting engineer.

Leavitt first achieved professional prominence in 1873 for his design of a novel pumping engine. From 1874–1904 he served as consulting engineer for the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company, where he designed more than 40 types of engines for a variety of uses for the company's Michigan mines. Each huge stationary steam engine was named, much like a steam locomotive or ship, with names including the Arcadia, Chippewa, Frontenac, Mackinac, Marquette, and Superior. He also designed steam-powered water pumps for various municipal water systems, including those of Louisville, Kentucky and Boston, and the power source for a hydraulic forge at the Bethlehem Steel Company.